the stereotype of smelly french people hit a new low today..

When you've been living somewhere for a lengthy period of time, and when you begin to have a sort of routine in that place which causes you to traverse the same places at roughly the same times, you begin to see the same people at those times. It's like at Ole Miss, when you pass the same people at the same time at the same place between classes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can always rely on seeing that person and saying hey or grabbing a coffee.. it's a great way to "run into" people you're crushing on... etc. Anyways, I have begun to have such experiences in and around Metz. Disclaimer: I am not poking fun at any person or animal in what I'm about to type, I'm simply sharing a part of what has (unfortunately) become a regular occurrence in my day-to-day life with people who are not here to experience it with me.
Last Sunday, I was minding my own business, riding back to my room on the bus, and all of a sudden smelled quite possibly the worst scent I've ever smelled in my entire life. It was part B.O./dog B.O./wet dog/wet person/sour milk/something else... I wish I possessed the words to describe it. It completely filled up the bus I was riding, everyone was completely abandoning propriety and lunging for scarves, coats, gloves, ANYTHING that might block the smell. I looked around for the culprit and spotted a greasy looking woman with a German Shepard-looking dog on a leash and in a nuzzle standing in the back of the bus. She was probably the only person on the bus who wasn't about to gag, so I knew it had to be her. I felt bad for her because maybe she's unemployed and can't pay for water to bathe herself or her dog or wash her clothes.. but still the stench almost knocked me (and probably several others) out. Unfortunately, she got off two stops before mine, meaning that I had had to ride the bus with the smell for about 15 minutes. But then, she got off, the smell went away, and I forgot about it... until last night. I was in the train station, headed to a nearby town to see a friend for dinner, and I passed the same woman and the dog! At first I was like "Woah that's twice in one week, never thought I'd see her again!" Then, the stench hit. And it lingered. It was at least 50 times worse than Sunday night, and it lingered for a couple of minutes after she was long gone. I did not know that such lingering was possible. I then proceeded to buy my tickets and put it out of my mind. However, I decided this was worthy of a blog post tonight, when I saw her and the dog a THIRD time as they were getting on my bus at the train station. It did not take long for the smell to completely permeate the bus. It was like being in Sephora and being completely overpowered by the smell of perfume, only it was B.O., etc. However, it was interesting to look around and see how different people handled the situation. From my experience, French people seem to be oblivious to bad smells, but at the same time, this one was impossible to miss. No one was outright rude or anything, but one man had the lower half of his face wrapped in has scarf and was looking at the floor, a woman near me had pulled out a perfume tester strip from Sephora and was holding it up to her nose. I myself pretended to have a runny nose and held a tissue that I had taken from Sephora this afternoon to my nose for the entirety of the busride. It was actually scented and smelled quite good. There was, however, a respectable looking guy to my left who was very stoic throughout the 15 minute busride and never once made a face or put his hands in front of his nose. Maybe he had no sense of smell.. The woman got off towards the end of the busride, as before, but, like last night, the stench remained. Like I said before, she may have a really sad situation and can't help it. In fact, that's probably the case. I, in the meantime, however, will be taking a different bus.